Blame the Eater? Mebbe, Mebbe Not.

Summary 1

In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater” by David Zinczenko, he argues that it is impossible to find inexpensive and convenient solutions to eating other than fast-food. The difficulty, he claims, is there are hardly any places in which anyone, most specifically a teenager, can find a place for healthy food. As he elaborates, one can drive down any street in America and generally find some type of fast-food restaurant whether it be McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Burger King, or one of the many others. But finding a grapefruit? You’d be better off looking for a needle in a haystack.

On the contrary, I find that the search for a healthy alternative isn’t so far out of reach. The solution lies in knowing how to locate the substitute food without breaking your back. And fortunately for the American public, if you know where to look it isn’t all that hard to find.

Summary 2


In his article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko insists that fast-food companies are to be blamed for the youthful obesity filling the nation. As he asserts, fast-food companies do not provide accurate labeling for calorie contents on their products, which in turn leads to an unhealthy consumption of said products. He theorizes of bringing lawsuits to companies of this nature, like McDonald’s and Burger King, to make them pay for their disregard to a good handful of America’s teenage population that are overweight due to the food they provide.

I support Zinczenko in his argument that the fast-food companies are contributing to the growing obesity problem in America because of the lack of information on what exactly is being eaten and all of the calories and carbs that go with it. However, I do have to disagree on the stance of bring lawsuits against the companies. Even though they do not provide warning labels or calorie charts, it is unfair to say they take all the blame for that. Personal responsibility of knowing how bad fast-food is should be noted, and people should not blame the companies because of their decision to indulge in fatty foods.